Bottles typically include a body having a shoulder, a neck finish and a neck extending between the shoulder and the neck finish. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2012/0000878 illustrates an example glass bottle of this general type. Such bottles may be produced using a blow-and-blow manufacturing process or a press-and-blow manufacturing process, and typically have substantially uniform wall thicknesses.
In a typical blow-and-blow manufacturing process, a gob of molten glass is dropped into a blank mold having a neck ring at its bottom end, and a baffle applied over an open top end of the blank mold. Then, a settle blow or vacuum is applied to the glass gob to force the molten glass of the gob into the neck ring and against a short plunger within the neck ring. Subsequently, the plunger is retracted and a counter blow is applied through the neck ring around the plunger to blow a cavity in the molten glass and expand the molten glass against inside surfaces of the blank mold to form a parison. Next, the baffle is removed, the blank mold is opened, and the inverted parison is flipped to an upright position held by the neck ring wherein a blow mold is closed around the parison. A final blow is applied through the bore of the neck ring into the parison cavity to stretch the parison into contact against inside surfaces of the blow mold to form the bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,061 illustrates an example blow-and-blow process of this general type.
In a typical press-and-blow manufacturing process, a molten glass gob is dropped into a blank mold including a neck ring, and a long plunger is pressed into the molten glass gob to form a parison. The parison includes a parison neck formed by the neck ring, and a body having a cavity formed by outer surfaces of the plunger and outer surfaces formed against inside surfaces of the blank mold. The parison is then removed from the blank mold and placed in a blow mold, in which blow gas is applied through a bore of the neck ring into the parison cavity to stretch the body and a major portion of a neck of the parison into contact against inside surfaces of the blow mold while the neck finish remains in the geometry formed in the blank mold. U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,046 illustrates an example wide mouth press-and-blow process, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,127 illustrates an example narrow neck press-and-blow process.
Moreover, longneck bottles are popular in the beverage packaging industry, particularly for packaging beer. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0264107 illustrates example longneck bottles having necks with internal ribs produced by forming external ribs on parison necks and pushing the external ribs into the necks during blowing of the parisons into the bottles.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a bottle having improved product dispensing flow via a vented neck that does not require unconventional neck ring equipment, unconventional blank or blow mold bodies, or an unconventional closure design for the container, and related methods and tooling.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A method of a making a glass bottle in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes the steps of: (a) forming a parison from a gob of molten glass around a plunger in a blank mold having a neck ring, wherein the parison includes a body, and a neck having a neck finish and a neck interior, and wherein at least a portion of the plunger has a non-circular cross-section to form the neck interior with a corresponding non-circular cross-section; and (b) blowing the parison in a blow mold to form the bottle, which has the neck interior of non-circular cross-section.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a bottle that includes a body having a closed end, a shoulder spaced from the end, a neck extending from the shoulder, and a neck finish at an end of the neck for attachment of a closure, characterized in that the at least a portion of the neck adjacent to the neck finish has non-circular internal surfaces.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of a making a glass bottle that includes the steps of: (a) pressing a plunger into a gob of molten glass in a parison mold to form a glass parison having a body and a neck finish, and (b) blowing the parison body in a blow mold to form a bottle having the neck finish, characterized in that the plunger has a non-circular cross-section so that at least a portion of the neck finish formed in the step (a) has a non-circular cross-section that is retained during and following the step (b).
In accordance with an additional aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a plunger for a blank mold of a container manufacturing process that includes a base, a conical portion terminating in a tip, and a forming portion between the base and the tip, wherein the forming portion has a non-circular cross-section to form a container neck interior with a corresponding non-circular cross-section.